Menu

Archives

Reshared post from Koen De Paus

"The term "biophilia" literally means "love of life or living systems." It was first used by Erich Fromm to describe a psychological orientation of being attracted to all that is alive and vital. E.O. Wilson uses the term in the same sense when he suggests that biophilia describes "the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life.” He proposed the possibility that the deep affiliations humans have with nature are rooted in our biology. Unlike phobias, which are the aversions and fears that people have of things in the natural world, philias are the attractions and positive feelings that people have toward certain habitats, activities, and objects in their natural surroundings."

Although not exactly related, I would like to draw a connection with the Gaia hypothesis. Where the biophilia hypothesis talks about instinctive connections, the gaia hypothesis tries to make sense of the total picture and all connections. It offers a very interesting perspective on planet Earth and makes you see just how interconnected everything really is. Elephants taking down trees and thus creatures that lived in them, creating a desert which ends up changing the local climate which in turn could change the amount of rainfall in other areas causing even more disruption. It portrays the entire planet, its ecosystems, atmosphere, geological activity, … as a network of very interconnected systems where butterfly effects can cause cascades that are felt halfway around the world.